Tips For Creating a Homeschool Schedule
Find example homeschool schedules and insights from home educators on creating a schedule that works for you.
A homeschool schedule can act as a roadmap that guides your daily educational journey and helps to create a productive learning environment for both you and your children. One of the benefits of homeschooling is the freedom and flexibility it offers, which means home educators can tailor schedules to their family’s unique needs and preferences.
Whether you’re a new home educator seeking guidance or an experienced one looking to refine your schedule, you’ll find examples of homeschool schedules here, along with insights from fellow home educators on how to create a homeschool schedule that works for you and your family.
Preschool Homeschool Schedule
| Time | Activity |
| 8:00–9:00 a.m. | Breakfast, get dressed, and daily chores |
| 9:00–9:15 a.m. | Phonics and reading |
| 9:15–9:30 a.m. | Math activities |
| 9:30–10:00 a.m. | Art, music, or physical activities |
| 10:00–10:15 p.m. | Snack |
| 10:15–10:30 a.m. | Science or social studies |
| 10:30–10:50 | Sensory play/motor skills |
| 10:50–11:00 a.m. | Clean up |
| 11:00-12:00 | Outdoor play and exploration |
| 12:00-12:30 | Lunch |
Homeschool Schedule for Children 8+
| Time | Activity |
| 8:00–9:00 a.m. | Breakfast, get dressed, and daily chores |
| 9:00–9:45 a.m. | Language Arts |
| 9:45–10:30 a.m. | Guided math |
| 10:30–11:15 a.m. | Art, music, or physical activities |
| 11:15–12:30 p.m. | Lunch and free-play |
| 12:30–1:15 p.m. | Science or social studies |
| 1:15–2:30 | Independent work time |
| 2:30–2:45 p.m. | Clean up |
Keep in mind that these schedules are simply examples to help guide you in creating a schedule that fits the daily rhythm of your family and the goals of your homeschool. Adjust them as you see fit.
Homeschooling a kindergartener? Find examples of schedules and tips for creating a kindergarten homeschool schedule here.
Tips for Creating A Homeschool Schedule from Fellow Home Educators
Create a Master List of Tasks
The beauty of homeschooling is that your homeschool schedule can look however you want it to look. You do not have to keep the same hours and days as the local public school. Your homeschooling can be done your way.
If your family is filled with early risers like mine was when the kids were little, doing schoolwork in the early morning hours is a great option. We would often be finished before lunchtime and could spend the afternoon playing outside, running errands, or heading to the library before schools got out for the day.
As my kids got older and wanted to sleep in more, we adjusted and moved back the start time. Being flexible with the schedule allowed them to get the amount of sleep they needed while also ensuring that they were in a good space mentally and physically to learn.
In terms of which subjects to teach during the week and how to fit it all in, I discovered that for our family, creating a master list of tasks that needed to be completed each week for each child worked best.
For example, if my youngest needed to do four math lessons, five language arts assignments, two social studies lessons, and one large science experiment during the week, putting everything down on a weekly planner was ideal. Then, if she decided that she wanted to work ahead in math, she knew which lessons she had to complete for the week.
Some families may need more structure and scheduling, which is completely fine. Doing what works best for your children and your family is what homeschooling is all about.
Be Flexible
Homeschooling schedules can vary based on the needs of your family.
When kids are younger, it could be helpful to maintain a flexible schedule with short blocks of time for academic lessons. Due to the attention span of younger kids, it’s important not to pack too much into their schedule, which could hinder their love of learning. As kids age, you might notice a shift in your schedule based on their ability to do more independently.
Our lesson plan schedule in the early years looked like a morning time meeting daily with stories, journaling, and reviewing the day of the week. We added more elements like puzzles and critical thinking activities as they aged. We’d follow up with math and grammar lessons. Throughout our homeschool journey, we have kept language skills and math on the schedule daily. After lunch, we would explore interests. When possible, we incorporated other subjects into reading, math, and grammar lessons. If a subject were taught independently, we’d incorporate the lessons on specific days instead of daily.
In my family, we kept a schedule visually available to our children so they could understand what was coming next. I used technology to create a visually pleasing schedule that could be hung on our whiteboard or bulletin board. Over time, we let go of the visual schedule because the flow of our homeschool became more routine. Routines can often remove the need for a schedule because of the natural family flow. When we had lessons, activities, or appointments that needed to happen at a specific time, we held space for those activities. We plugged them into our kitchen calendar whiteboard to ensure everyone knew about the upcoming events.
Having a schedule can be valuable, especially in the early years of homeschooling, because it can teach your children time boundaries and help you keep your homeschool life manageable.
If you’re thinking about your family’s schedule, write down what types of lessons and activities you would like to do with your kids, then consider the best time of day for lessons to happen in your family. Once you know when you’re available to support your children’s learning activities, you can plug in which activities you want to do on specific days and times. Deciding how much time to dedicate to particular subjects can be challenging if you stick to a rigid schedule. If there’s flexibility, you can use trial and error to gauge a realistic amount of time to complete activities.
If independent learning is an option, you can still plug subjects into your schedule to remind your children to complete their specific lessons. Scheduling in your homeschool can be fluid and might need to be adjusted several times throughout the school year.
Regularly Review It
A homeschool schedule can look like whatever works best for you and your family. Some families prefer a schedule with strict start and stop times. This type of approach can work well for kids (and parents) that thrive with structure. It can also help reduce anxiety by greatly eliminating unknowns.
Our family uses more of a relaxed routine in our homeschool. We prefer having flexibility for our learn-at-home experiences, instead of trying to cram it all into time slots. My boys and I appreciate being able to take longer in subject areas that spark our curiosity or need more attention.
When my boys were younger, I had a visible routine chart as part of our homeschool morning time. They liked having it to refer to throughout our day. Each subject would have a different color to make it easy to differentiate and follow.
About once a month, I would chat with my boys about our routine and consider their feedback in terms of how our day would flow. We’ve applied their preferences to our routine so it continues to naturally work now that they are older.
We work on math and language arts (English) every day. History is a favorite subject for all of us, so we also enjoy that subject on a daily basis. Science is sprinkled throughout the week. Music appreciation is on Mondays because we think it’s a relaxing way to start our week. Art is on Fridays because we all look forward to it–it’s like a reward to wrap up our learning fun!
10 Quick Tips for Creating A Homeschool Schedule
- Make a visual schedule that everyone can see and follow.
- Write down the weekly lessons and activities you want to complete, the time they’ll require, and the best time of day to include them. Use this information to guide your schedule. This article on how many hours to homeschool can help.
- Regularly review your schedule with your children.
- Keep lessons shorter and earlier for younger children.
- Consider starting the day later for older children to align with their natural sleep cycles.
- Create a master list of independent activities for your child, so they know what to work on next.
- Keep space in your schedule for appointments and other activities.
- Remember to stay flexible, adjusting your schedule as needed.
- Your schedule can be as rigid or fluid as you’d like it to be.
- If your schedule isn’t working for you and your family, change it.
The Homeschool+ curriculum can be customized to fit your homeschool
schedule and includes lessons in core subjects, along with art, music, and Spanish.